I don,t know if you have one or not but Princess Auto every now and again puts parts washers on sale for about 50 bucks, the one I bought I was very happy with even though it was light weight made in China .If I leave a brass object in for about a week the finish comes right back and made up a little air compressor for free using a refrigerator motor and a old propane tank for small jobs. Hope you get a video of the Beeman soon for us to see. Looks good Cheers Mike

Ha! You just read my mind, Doug. I didn't get back to the Beeman yesterday as the weather was good and I needed to work a good day on our decrepit porch, which I did. This morning it was rainy so today was a garage day as my kids were at day camp.

Anyway, I just started the Beeman up for the first time about 15 minutes ago. It runs! It still needs some final carb adjustments and what not, but I ran it for about 5 minutes or so without any coolant. It puffed a whole lot of black smoke and seemed to run worse after a minute or so, but then I looked down at the glass bowl on my fuel strainer and saw that the fuel almost looked like chocolate milk. That's when I realized a neglected to clean out the fuel tank. Anyway, I'm guessing that probably is a good place to start in addressing the black smoke and running poorly. I'll get that straightened out first and then start playing with the carb adjustment more. I also saw that a little fuel is seeping out one of the ball caps on the Carb. I'll have to look more closely at that too. Regardless, it runs! Also, the clutch worked perfectly well, other than the one wheel still doesn't like to turn freely when I pulled it into the garage. It is engages fine, getting power to the wheel, and it doesn't turn when I'm starting it so it starts in a neutral position, but when the machine is off and I want to drag it somewhere, that wheel doesn't turn. Also, I didn't see any smoke coming out of the rad, so I'm going to try putting coolant in there tomorrow

Anyway, here's my to-do list moving forward:

Drain fuel tank and clean it out!

Add coolant (regular antifreeze?)

Check oil level (it seemed to take less that a quart - is that normal? - it started pouring out the petcock after one quart)

Tighten ball cap

Add fresh fuel

Start again and adjust carb

Does that seem like a good to-do list? I'm hoping to go to a show this weekend so I should bring it and see if I can find someone more knowledgeable than I to show me how to adjust the carb properly. It was nice to hear it run, but it will be nicer to hear it run well. Oh, and the Champion D21 plug was too small, so I stuck with the old plug that came in the machine as it was producing an excellent spark anyway.

Going to put some antifreeze in it today as I have some laying around. Is antifreeze fine to use? Second, is there anything special that I need to do when filling it? Third, do I fill it right to the bottom of the neck, or is there some other preferable limit to what I put in? I didn't see anything in the manual.

The antifreeze won't hurt anything but you might want to use plain water the first go round to make sure yoiu don't have a major leak and waste the antifreeze. You can leave a little room for expansion. Run a wire or blow air through the overflow tube that comes up in the center of the neck to make sure its open. The level will self correct.

So I just got my fuel tank back from being cleaned and lined, and thought I'd fix a pesky oil leak on the bottom of the machine at the inspection cover. I removed the cover to find this:
Then I looked inside to see that the babbet is disintegrating at the bottom of the connecting rod. I'm assuming there's another piece or two in the bottom of the oil resevoir. So, is this the end of using this machine until I get a new babbet made? I'm guessing so. It ran fine when I used it last. I'm guessing the lead chunks stay on the bottom of the machine.

So I just got my fuel tank back from being cleaned and lined, and thought I'd fix a pesky oil leak on the bottom of the machine at the inspection cover. I removed the cover to find this:
Then I looked inside to see that the babbet is disintegrating at the bottom of the connecting rod. I'm assuming there's another piece or two in the bottom of the oil resevoir. So, is this the end of using this machine until I get a new babbet made? I'm guessing so. It ran fine when I used it last. I'm guessing the lead chunks stay on the bottom of the machine.

Ya, there's nothing in that picture that excites me very much, I must say, other than I likely discovered this before any damage was done, seeing as how it ran fine when I parked it a couple of weeks ago.

Jamie, check the slop in the rod. I think at this point I would remove the cap for inspection. Be careful of the shims. Check the crank for any burrs or roughness that could have taken the bearing out. If the only damage is the chunk on the side of the bearing, I'd reshim the rod cap and put it back together. I don't think there is enough missing from the picture that it would ever hurt it. Is there any kind of a dipper on the rod cap for the lube?

There's a little play, but not enough that it made any noise when it was running. I suppose that means that it's within tolerance, though I'm not experienced enough to know how much play is too much play just by wiggling it. I'll take the cap off today and take some pictures. I didn't see a dipper, but I'll see if I can reach down into the oil resevoir today and retrieve any more babbit that may be there, and who knows what else. I didn't see a dipper though. Maybe I'll take the plate off the 1918 and see what it looks like to give me an idea. I'll post again later today with what I find

Jamie if the bearing has just lost a little at the sides, I would use it without concern. Most hit and miss engines lose a little from the side that part of the bearing is to center the rod and stop the rod from riding against the crank. Pull the cap and check to be sure, this subject has been discussed many times on Smokestak in the engine section. I check my engines by turning the crank so it points up and rocking it back and forth just a little and watch for movement at the big end .

Worse case I will loan you my ladle and fry pan .

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Than for the offer, Mike. Hopefully I won't need to take you up on it I had another look at it today. I didn't get to take the cap off yet, but will later. Anyway, no dipper on the bottom, and it doesn't look like one was ever there. There plenty of oil in the crank bearing and I can see the bottom of the piston skirt glistening too. I may be wrong, but everything seems to be well lubricated. Also, I took the inspection plate off of my 1918 Beeman and I doesn't have a dipper either. It looks the same as the 1920. I attached a picture of the 1920 (the one with the lead) and the 1918 (the one with the brass?), just for comparison sake. By the way, why does the '20 use lead and the '18 use brass, or whatever it is? Anyway, hopefully I'll get the cap off within th next day or so. I'll post again then.

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Jamie , the other option is forget the babbit if it needs replacing and just do like the other engine and use a bronze bearing turned in a lathe. Some old hit and miss engines used a bronze machined bearing, it is a simpler solution. If both engines are the same it should not be a problem.